Has anyone had any luck recording webcam video in SuSE 9.3? I would be interested in the software you are using.

I hunted around on the web and eventually found dvr-3.2. I downloaded it and built from source and it works! You need to have lots of "_devel" packages and several Qt3 tool/extra packages installed before it will build, but these are all available as part of the release DVD.

However, dvr-3.2 only records in the .avi format. This is good enough, but I was wondering if there were any other tools out there that might be better. If you have had any success in this area, perhaps you could post? Thanks!

Hi, this will be one of my pet subject one day.
I have not tried yet.
My notes on the subject (I have not tried yet):

xvidcap records action on the desktop (with the help of ffmpeg)
gvidcap (same source) is better because it uses gtk (will depend on the
make option maybe)
otherwise maybe

ffmpeg -vd /dev/video -ad /dev/ sound/ dsp -r 10 -s 352x288 video_ test. avi
conversion to mpeg with
ffmpeg -i video_ test. avi video_ test. mpg

I supose you could create a fifo named pipe for the avi file
and convert it on the fly to mpg

I have made a great deal of progress on this since my first post.

As you mention, ffmpeg does a great job of this. I have found, using my Logitech Quickcam Pro 4000, which will do a nice 640x480, that the command:

ffmpeg -sameq -s 640x480 movie.mpg

produces a very nice, high quality mpg video capture (the default format is MPEG1, apparently). The only problem with it is that the playback via any good mpg player is too fast - I suspect that dropped frames may be the reason. However, this can be compensated for by a player that allows you to force the frame rate, for example mplayer. The command:

mplayer -fps 18 movie.mpg

does a nice job on my hardware of playing back the video capture from the above command in more or less normal time.

I have also built from source and worked with dvr-3.2. It is a GUI interface, but a little more tricky to use than ffmpeg. Of the available codecs, only the DivXLowMotion seems to work well, producing an .avi file that can be played back with any good avi player.

I have also tried cupid, but with no luck. I am corresponding with the author to try to straighten this out.

xvidcap sounds REALLY interesting - found out about it a while ago - but I can't seem to find a SuSE 9.3 RPM for it. Do you know where I can get one? I have checked the distribution media - it isn't included. I have also checked the packman and Guru RPM archives, and neither has it. Any pointers? Thanks!

It should be a good occasion to try to compile from source
http://sourceforge.net/projects/xvidcap

I will help if I can with compiling process.
I just got suse 9.3 but not installed yet/ I use mandriva mostly

It should be a good occasion to try to compile from source
http://sourceforge.net/projects/xvidcap

I will help if I can with compiling process.
I just got suse 9.3 but not installed yet/ I use mandriva mostly

Thanks for the link and the offer of help. I have downloaded the tarball and will see if it will build tomorrow. I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks.